The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1887-06-03
WOMEN AND SOCIAL SCIENCE
An Incident Which Illustrates a Trait
in the Fair Sex.
fCnacioI n

illustrates "A Trnf
in the Fair Sex.
Especial Correspondence
NEW York, May 90
Women are more cruel than men in manv
respects. Was it a Frenchman who said
"lhe cruelest creature is woman, but the
meanest is a man?" We must admit that
Frenchmeh have way of saying things that
have Ill them truth and force crystallized
But as to the special order of cruelty which T
have In mind. 1t is the desire of women to
Keep interiors of their own sex from rising in
the social or financial scale. With MANY of
them, "once servant always a servant "
mat Is, they refuse to permit woman who
mas served them in any inferior capacity to
ascend, even by her own skill and industry.
when occasionally one of their housemaids
makes break and establishes herself i'm busi
ness grade higher, her mistress regards it as
piece of presumption and makes it subject
OF humor in the family. The better the maid
succeeds in her new line of employment. the
more does the mistress feel herself and society
injured; the better the opportunity for ridi
cule. Not SO with men, They understand
that the hope of the human race lies in the
desire to climb-the divine discomfort which
leads on to growth and advancement. IF tba
humblest and obscurest porter i,l their en-
ploy shows desire and ability to advance
himself to something higher, they will give
him all the help they can. take pleasure i,
seeing him better himself, and finally when
he has reached an e~uali'v with themselves
~ will give him tne same respect anu con-
si.ieration they show others, and they will al
ways be proud of him
But women, for the most part, are entirely
without breadth in their ideas of social line
drawing. They are excusable For centuries
they have lived within lines and been taught
to venerate SAID lines and all other lines which
false idea of life set up and kept standing.
Small wonder is it that they do not see the
lever that moves the world; that they mis-
take the glorious face of progress for the i'm
pertinent countenance of presumption.
was reminded of this weakness in nv sex
the other day. Dining with four or five
friends, all ladies who had more than ordi-
nary intellectual claims, the talk took an in
dustrial turn. Each one had an opinion on
the subject of the enormous army of unem-
ployed in New York. Being comfortably
adjusted in the mosaic of life themselves, they
viewed the struggles and sufferings of those
who were not, with that calm philosophy
which characterizes the comfortable
One lady told how one of her chamber
maids, the most faithful and efficient one she
had, came to her one day and said: "Mrs r.,
have decided to leave you. I am not at all
dissatisfied with either you or the work, but
believe can do better at sewing, going out
by the day at first, and afterward opening
place of my own. I think it is every woman,s
right and even duty to do the best SHE can
for herself" E9 .&ajessT5 M&$#
A most sensible girl, surely; but her for
mer employer could not get over the idea
that this was piece OF extravagant imperti- 4
nence on the part Of the maid She did not
say so, but she went on to tell how said maid
was now located at first class boarding
house, taking her coffee in her room and
putting on no end of airs" At this point
two of the company said: Perfectly ridi-
culous.' I said: "Highly commendablei
That girl has in her the spirit which made
our ancestors revolt against the yoke Of
British rule; the spirit to which we are in
iebted for all growth and excellence in the
arts. She is doing her part towards
pushing the car of progress"
They ali looked rather alarmed at my
nannish view of the situation, but did not at
ernpt to defend their position as obstruction
sts. There were no more CALCULATIONS of con-
empt for the energetic seamstress in my
presence. The good lady who teld the story
lgreed with me that the girl had clioseia the
;etter part; but the old contempt for tho in
erior, the belief inculcatesl through the years
hat lines OF caste We're drawn by heaven an.'
lot TO be oycrleaped without punishment,
incturel l,er III spite of hers,lf.
do not lame lef. She had never before
ad otcasn to think ON that subject outside
L the cst;1iiisiiei aiisl ulichanscabie order OF
lliilsss, and probably newer viii have again.
Z ss Z 3